Suggest your U.S. Representative Support

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

50 Years is Enough has issued this important alert:

The following letter went out last week to members of the U.S. House of
Representatives from two of their colleagues.  It describes a resolution
they are introducing to call attention to the fact that the IMF gold being
sold ostensibly for debt relief will in fact largely go to support IMF
structural adjustment programs.

If you live in the U.S., please contact your Representative and let them
know about the Resolution, and ask them to support it.  The phone number for
the U.S. Capitol switchboard is 202/224-3121.


					     June 16, 1999

Impoverished Countries Need Real Debt Relief, Not More Failed IMF Programs

Dear Colleague,

	This weekend, the Group of Seven (the world's largest industrialized
countries) will discuss the debt burden of the world's poorest nations in
Cologne, Germany.  One of the proposals to be considered, which is also
expected to come before Congress later this year, would allow the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) to sell a portion of its multi-billion
gold reserves  -- ostensibly for debt relief.

	Both the Treasury Department and the IMF have acknowledged that most of the
income from the gold sales will be used not for debt relief, but to finance
the IMF's own much-criticized lending facility for low-income countries, the
Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF).  Financing ESAF through gold
sales will not only allow the IMF to continue to implement harsh policies,
but will also create a permanently funded ESAF, despite the facility's
documented failure on economic and social grounds.

	Impoverished countries need real debt relief, not more failed IMF programs.
That's why we have introduced H. Con. Res. 132.  This non-binding resolution
expresses Congress's opposition to gold sales to fund the IMF's failed ESAF
program, and to only support gold sales for direct and immediate debt
relief.  If you are interested in becoming a co-sponsor of H. Con. Res. 132,
please contact Tom Moore with Rep. Sherrod Brown at 5-3401 or Joel Starr
with Rep. Tom Campbell at 5-2621.


						Sincerely,


SHERROD BROWN		                       TOM  CAMPBELL
Member of Congress				Member of Congress